COMMISIMPEX

Situation

Prime Policy Group was retained by an international infrastructure firm by the name of COMMISIMPEX to help the company resolve a long-standing debt owed to them by the Government of the Republic of Congo. This debt is owed to the company as a result of the infrastructure work that the firm did in Congo in the late 1980s. The company is comprised of British and American investors.

Prime has worked with COMMISIMPEX to draw attention to the debt and to engage both the American and British governments in urging the Government of the Republic of Congo to resolve the debt as quickly as possible.

Strategy & Implementation

In the United States, Prime has worked to present the facts of the case to appropriate officials in the foreign policy committees in both the House and Senate and has urged Senators and Congressman alike to raise the case with Congolese officials.

Prime also worked to ensure that the U.S. State Department and the Office of the United States Trade Representative were aware of the facts of the case, so they could raise it with senior Congolese government officials. Prime engaged the support of the American Ambassador on the ground in Congo and urged her to intercede on the company’s behalf. Prime also submitted a letter to USTR, urging USTR to deny African Growth and Opportunity eligibility to Congo in 2016 (as part of an annual review of AGOA eligibility). The letter drew attention to “rule of law” and other problems related to the COMMISIMPEX case.

Prime also worked with COMMISMPEX’s team on the ground in the UK to bring media and government attention to the issue.

Results

Prime has achieved a number of objectives in publicizing the case. In the United States, a senior Democratic member in the House placed a piece in the Congressional Record to draw attention to the issue and several other senior Members have now raised the issue with senior Congolese officials. While in Europe, the well-known French publication Le Monde did a major piece on the case, as did Africa Intelligence, as a result of our team’s requests and in-depth background briefings to reporters.

While the case is ongoing, much progress has been made in bringing new attention to and focus on this long-standing case with U.S. and European officials and there is renewed hope that a resolution can be found soon.

Prime Policy Group is a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller Global Public Relations with 42 offices worldwide, a WPP owned company.